


We'll build our alter here (the bedroom hymns)

by to_dwellondreams1



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Arrow - Freeform, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, One-Shots, Romance, bedroom prompts, character injury, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-06 00:10:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1837219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/to_dwellondreams1/pseuds/to_dwellondreams1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shots each telling a different story, all taking place in a bedroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is new. I haven't written anything in a longtime, but the itch to write came again, and it had to be Oliver and Felicity. Please be nice. Prompts at the bottom. :)

Oliver shut the front door quietly behind him; conscious of the beautiful woman sleeping down the hallway, and slowly made his way to their bedroom. 

He had known it wouldn’t be easy to try and salvage Queen Consolidated’s reputation, but he hadn’t expected how much it would take out of him. 

The investors had kept him at the office well past midnight, furiously debating a way to restore Queen Consolidated to its ‘original glory’.

By the time he reached the bedroom he was radiating frustration. All he wanted to do was head down to the foundry to release the stress that had been eating him up all day.

He knew he would regret it tomorrow though. His schedule was filled with the same meetings all day. Felicity tried to move them, knowing the toll they were taking on him, but he insisted she keep them on his schedule. 

They were going to have to happen whether he wanted them to or not, and he decided it was best to get them over with now so he could finally move on with his life, their life.

A small smile formed on his lips when he walked into their bedroom and saw her sprawled across their bed, her blonde hair fanned out around her pillow as she slept. 

Although he didn’t want to wake her, he couldn’t help but immediately go to her side of the bed after he putting his briefcase down near the dresser and taking off his shoes.

All the frustration from the day seemed fade as he placed himself on the edge of the bed beside her. 

He ran his fingers through her bedridden hair as his eyes roamed over her face. Her full lips were parted, gentle breath coming out in a steady rhythm, assuring him that for the first night, in what seemed like weeks, she was getting a decent sleep.

Despite his insistence that she should be home resting, Felicity had refused to leave his side through the meetings he had all week, and the dark circles that seemed to have taken permanent residence under her eyes were evidence of that.

It had all come to a head yesterday morning when he had walked into his office during lunch to find Felicity asleep on his couch. 

While the sight had brought a smile to his face, he knew this couldn’t continue.

He crouched down in front of her, gently smoothing her hair away from her face.

“Felicity”, he whispered. “Hey, Felicity, come on, it’s time to get up.”

She quickly sucked in a breath as she blinked blearily, trying to force the sleep from her eyes. 

“Wha—Oliver…what’s going on?” Her voice was rough from sleep, confusion evident on her face. “Why are we in your office…”

Then she quickly sat up, nearly knocking into Oliver in the process, and started speaking at a mile a minute. 

“Oh my god, are we still at work? Shit, I didn’t mean to fall asleep! I just came in here after lunch to go through our schedule for the rest of the day, and I must have dozed off. Did I miss the 1 o’clock meeting with Kroner—Oliver you know how important his support it. I--.” 

“Felicity, breath.” Oliver grasped her shoulders in his hands, and smiled gently at her, trying to calm her anxiety. “It’s only 12:45, you didn’t miss the meeting.”

“Oh, thank god, I was so worried. This is perfect, we have just enough time to prepare--.” 

“But,” Oliver interrupted her again, earning himself a raised eyebrow. He barked out a laugh, but continued on. “But you will be missing the meeting anyway. You are going home, no arguments.”

Her eyes flared as she pushed herself off the couch and stalked to the other side of the room, causing him to follow. 

“Oliver, how many times do I have to say this? My life, my choice. I am perfectly capable of finishing the day, just like the rest of you.” Her crossed arms dared him to defy her. 

He sighed and slowly walked towards her, holding out his hands for her to take. She hesitated for a moment before putting her hands in his, her shoulders dropping as she broke her tense pose.

“Felicity, I know what you are capable of—and it’s much more than what’s going on in that boardroom right now.” The corner of her mouth turned up in a slightly smile as he removed one of his hands from hers and gently placed it on her stomach.

He couldn’t stop the wide smile that formed on his face as she moved her hand and placed it over his. This was what was important, not the room full of investors that waited for him in the boardroom, or the criminals that waited for him on the streets. 

It was this—his family, and the future that he and Felicity were trying to build with their child.

“Do you understand how important you are to me?” He asked, his eyes searching hers as they blinked rapidly behind her glasses at his change in tone.

“Yes,” she whispered, and flexed her hand over the one he still had resting on her stomach. 

“Please go home and rest. I’ll be sure to make it up this weekend.” He teased, winking at her, trying charm her into listening to him. 

Her loud laugh echoed through the room. “Oh will you,” she replied in an equally teasing tone, knowing what he was trying to do. 

“When I’m done with you Mrs. Queen, you won’t even be able to think about getting out of bed,” he whispered in her ear, a blush immediately formed on her cheeks. He would never get sick of seeing that.

“Well, I will hold you to that Mr. Queen,” she said against his lips. 

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Oliver.” Her soft voice, rough with sleep, pulled him back to the present.

“Hey,” he smiled down at her, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She rubbed her hand against her eyes, trying break free from her sleep. “It’s okay. What were you thinking about? You had this faraway look on your face, I didn’t know if I would be able to pull you back from it.”

She was right of course; she wouldn’t be able to pull him back from it, because it was her, it was always her. Even when he tried to deny it, it would always be her. 

Especially on days like today, when all he wanted to do was leave this life behind. The company, the hood, it could be so easy to just give it all up and runaway, like he used to.

But then he saw her and he knew he could face it all. Even now, with her squinting up at him questioningly, she gave him all the strength he needed. 

He reached forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and leaned forward to give her a kiss. “You.”

“What?”

“I was thinking of you.” 

She leaned her face deeper into his hand, and gave him a warm smile. “Promise?”

“Promise.”


	2. I need you so much closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver awakes to an empty bed after Slade's return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any grammar mistakes are my own, as I was editing this at far too late at night.

Oliver woke with a start, his hands reaching out towards the other side of the bed, instinctively searching for the warmth that he had become accustomed to the past few months. 

His hands came up empty though; the only thing that greeted him was coldness where she should have been. 

A blind panic overtook him until he remembered why her side of the bed was empty. 

It was so easy in those few moments between wakefulness and sleep to believe that she was still there in bed with him. 

His chest was heaving as he sat up, his elbows on his knees and head in his hands, trying to push the nightmare that had woken him up from his mind. He knew it wouldn’t work though.

His arms ached to hold her and his nightmares were proof that not even his dreams could fulfill that wish. 

The clock read 5 AM when his heart finally calmed and he pushed himself out of bed. 

He quickly got dressed and into his car to make the drive to where he knew he needed to be right now, the only place where he could possibly find comfort. 

He’d been having the same nightmare all week. Watching her fall, with him helpless to do anything to reach her, to save her. 

He had promised Diggle when they first brought her in that they could protect her, and he had meant it. Oliver was convinced that no matter what, that they would, he would, be able to keep her safe. 

For the most part, he had been able to keep his promise, but now he had broken it. 

When he offered her as bait to Slade last year he knew he was putting her in direct danger, but he believed in her, in their partnership. He hoped that they would be able to control the situation enough that she wouldn’t be hurt in the process. 

There had been no control in this situation though. 

Of course Oliver had feared in the back of his mind that Slade might one day escape from his island prison, he would have been a fool not to.

But he never would have thought it would be so soon after they put him there.

The call of his escape from Waller came too late—Slade made sure of that. 

He had been in the new foundry with Diggle training when Felicity’s picture flashed across his phone screen, and he thought she must have been calling to tell them that she would be a little late coming from work.

The last thing he expected was to hear Slade’s voice where Felicity’s should have been. 

His heart stopped and he saw spots as he listened to Slade say that he had once again taken “his Felicity”. 

His mind couldn’t help but go back to the moment when he received a similar call last year. Except he knew what was coming before, this time he had no clue what awaited him when he went to meet Slade.

All he knew was that he needed to get her, to bring her back to him. This time he would not hesitate to kill Slade if it came to it. 

He would break his promise to himself if it meant that he could save her. 

When he entered the abandoned building in the Glades and found Slade with Felicity the air was nearly knocked out of his chest.

Slade held Felicity by the neck as they stood on the edge of a hole that opened up into four-story drop. 

His eyes raked over Felicity, trying to assess if she had any visible injuries, but besides the tears that he could see falling down her cheeks, she looked unharmed. 

Oliver could barely contain his rage as he raised his bow and took aim directly at Slade’s heart. 

What he didn’t expect was Slade’s soft laughter as he said, “It’s already over, kid. I told you I would get my revenge.”

Oliver could barely process the statement before he watched Slade slowly tip himself back towards the hole, Felicity still tight in his grip. 

Then they were both gone.

Her scream pierced through the dark night, echoing off the empty walls of the building. 

That’s when Oliver would wake-up, covered in sweat, with his heart threatening to burst out of his chest.

Tonight had been worse though. Tonight he didn’t wake after hearing her screams, or even when he finally found her broken body on the bottom floor of the building. 

No, tonight he hadn’t woken up until they had reached the hospital, and he heard the sound of her flatlining on the gurney. 

This is why he hadn’t wanted to go home tonight, why he fought it all week, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to face their bed alone. 

Their bedroom had become a sanctuary to both of them, a place to escape from their day jobs and nighttime activities. And seeing her side of the bed empty destroyed any peace that that room had once offered. 

He walked slowly down the hospital corridor, ignoring the pitying glances of the nurses who had been watching him with her all week.

His hands shook as he pushed the door open and stepped into her hospital room. 

It looked the same as it did when he had left it earlier the previous evening, when Diggle was practically shoving him out the door. 

“You can’t keep doing this to yourself, Oliver. You’ve been here all week, you need to take care of yourself too.” Diggle had said to him. 

At this moment though, he wished he had never listened to Diggle.

And as he slowly approached her bed and took her small hand in his, feeling all the tension leave his body, he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave her again.

The oxygen mask that was keeping her breathing didn’t deter him as he leaned down to kiss her cheek, and he did nothing to try and stop the tears that started to roll down his cheeks as he took her in.

Each cut, each scrape, each broken bone that kept her confined to this bed and away from him broke his heart, because he knew he had put her there.

He sat down in the chair that had been occupying for the past week and laid his head by their clasped hands. 

He whispered the words that had become a mantra to him ever since the night she fell. 

“Please Felicity, I need you to wake-up, I need you to come back to me. I can’t do this without you.” His voice broke on the his last word, as he closed his eyes, and was lulled back to sleep by the slow beeping the heart monitor that assured him that she was still alive, still with him.

True to his word, Oliver kept a silent vigil in her room until a week later he was finally woken up one night, not from a nightmare, but from the gentle feeling of fingers running through his hair and the whisper of his name on her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated whether or not to put this chapter in this collection, because although part of it takes place in a bedroom, it's not what I had originally planned for the next chapter. But oh well, here it is.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of one-shots each telling a different story, all taking place in a bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver brings their newborn daughter into sleep with them

Sophia's soft cries filter through the baby monitor, effectively waking Oliver from his already short sleep.

He turns his head to look over at Felicity. Her blonde hair is strewn out across the pillow and her full lips are parted, still deep asleep. 

He smiles softly and gently pushes a lock of hair out of her eyes. Her nose scrunches in response as she turns her body towards his, seeking out his warmth, before letting out a sigh and falling back to sleep. 

Trying his best not to wake her again, Oliver gently removes the arm that he has wrapped around her and shuts off the baby monitor sitting on her nightstand. 

Ever since they brought Sophia home from the hospital four months ago, sleep had become even more of a luxury for both of them than it used to be when they were just doing Arrow business, and Oliver wanted to let Felicity sleep as long as she could.

Oliver slowly sits up, the bed creaking underneath him, as he leaves to go check on his daughter. 

It was the least he could do since Felicity now spent all day at home taking care of Sophia—not that either of them was complaining. They could barely keep their hands off their baby girl, if Felicity wasn’t holding her, Oliver was.

Diggle had warned them that they were going to spoiler her, but they didn’t seem to care. 

From the second he laid eyes on his daughter, Oliver was smitten, and he knew that there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. 

And if where she wanted to be was in his arms all day, he wasn’t going to deny her. 

He pads down the hall towards the nursery, listening for his daughter whose cries had slowly turned into a gentle whimper. 

“Hey, shh, it’s okay,” he whispers as he reaches Sophia, reminiscent of when he tries to calm Felicity down from one of her ramblings. 

Despite the fact that she was so young, Oliver could already see his wife in Sophia. Especially in moments like this, with her nose scrunched up and her tiny fists beating in the air. 

She is going to be a force to be reckoned with and he can’t wait for it. 

He picks her up and gently cradles her to his chest, reveling in the feelings of holding her close. 

His hand rubs up and down her back as he tries to sooth her. He continues this until she quiets down and burrows deep into his chest, not yet asleep, but finally at peace from whatever was plaguing her before. 

Oliver knows that he should put her back in her crib, but he can’t bear to let her go and leave her alone, so instead he carries her back to their room. 

Felicity is still deep asleep when he enters, but her position has changed to where she is spread out, taking up both her space and his own.

Oliver can’t keep the smile off his face as he gazes down at her; it’s what he calls her ‘starfish’ position. No matter how long he is gone, once Oliver vacates the bed, Felicity will immediately adjust her position and claim the entire bed. 

Whenever he brings it up to her she blushes and mumbles something about being uncomfortable with all that open space, so she just has to fill it. 

Oliver adjusts Sophia so that he has her held securely in his left arm before he begins to lower himself back down onto the bed, gently moving Felicity’s arm and leg as he does.

He places Sophia between the both on and turns to his side, careful not to jostle the bed, and begins to trace her fingers softly. 

She blinks slowly up him and gives him her best smile at the ticklish sensation of the patterns he’s drawing on her. Oliver can’t help the face splitting grin that crosses his face in response. 

He continues to do this until he feels soft fingers on his own and looks up to see his wife, hair a muss and slightly bleary eyed, smiling gently at him. 

“I thought we agreed that we were going to try and wean her off sleeping in our room,” Felicity says as she runs her fingers down Sophia’s plump cheek, smiling warmly down at her.

She lifts her head and looks expectantly at Oliver when he doesn’t answer her. 

He takes another moment and brings Sophia’s foot up to kiss each of her toes, just taking in this moment. 

Of his family being safe, and together in this bed. He’s never felt more content and wishes that there were a way to capture this moment and keep it with him forever. 

“Well, I distinctly remember Sophia telling me that she was lonely in there.” He says, finally answering his wife. 

“Sophia said she was lonely? Is that so, baby girl?” Felicity replies as she turns her attention back to their daughter. Sophia turns her head to her mother, a crease forming on her forehead at her mock serious tone.

“Oh, it was actually daddy who said he was lonely, is that right? Well, we can’t let our daddies get lonely, can we?” Felicity teases as she tickles Sophia’s belly, as a soft, short giggle erupts from her. 

Oliver can’t help the laugh that escapes him either as he pictures a future that is very similar to this moment, with his wife and daughter ganging up on him.

They eventually fall into a silence, Sophia finally asleep between them, with Felicity rubbing soothing circles on her hand and Oliver’s own hand laid gently over both of theirs.

Oliver is about to fall asleep himself when he hears Felicity whisper, “I think mommy was a little lonely to.” 

He squeezes her hand in response. “But not anymore?”

“No, I don’t think I’ll ever be lonely again,” she says, as she closes her eyes, a small smiling lingering on her lips. 

He briefly recalls his five years on that island, and the nightmares and loneliness that used to claim his past before Felicity came into his life. 

“Me either,” he whispers before he lets sleep finally claim him, welcoming the dreams of the future that he knew would come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to write for this in future chapters! :)


	4. There’s something tragic about you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little 3 x 09 speculation.

“Felicity…” he started, his body half turned away from her as if he was going to run again, but she wouldn’t let him.

Not this time. Especially knowing where he was planning on running to.

“No, Oliver, you don’t get to ‘Felicity’ me. Not after everything we’ve been through,” she said as she walked purposefully towards him, her voice strong and sure.

The only evidence of her fear were the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, because if she failed she could lose him forever. Lose them, before they ever really started.

“You once told me that I wouldn’t lose you, you promised me. Do you remember?”

He closed his eyes and raised his head, expelling a deep breath before looking at her again. The words he spoke to her what felt like a lifetime ago running through his head.

“I--Felicity, please… don’t do this.” He was shifting from one foot to the other, rubbing his fingers together. She could tell he was desperately trying to hold it together.

“Do you remember?” She repeated, not backing down from the mission she set off to complete. She wanted to push him.

“What do you want me to say?” He said softly, his demeanor changing completely, throwing her off slightly. She had been preparing for a war, not a surrender.

“Yes, I remember. Of course I do, and I never wanted to break that promise, never.” He stepped closer, grasping her arms in his hands, much like the first time they had this conversation.

“But I’m doing this for my family, for you…” he squeezed her arms for emphasis before slowly moving to cup her face, and she could barely catch her breath before he continued on.

“If I don’t he will come for you or Thea, or both of you, and I can’t let that happen. I won’t, Felicity. So don’t make me, because if you ask me to stay, I don’t know if I will be able to say no.”

They were both breathing heavily and at some point Felicity’s hands had raised to grasp his wrists that still held her face.

She wanted to do nothing more than go against his wishes and beg that he stay, stay with her. It would be so easy to give in to that side of her, but she knew she couldn’t. This was her fight too, and like Oliver, she had a duty to this city.

She came to the foundry tonight to fight against his decision to be taken by the League, but now she knew that had been selfish crusade. Well, if she were being completely honest, she had always known that it was selfish, but she wanted to be selfish. If just for tonight, she wanted to be completely selfish with him, because once he left she didn’t know if she would ever get this opportunity again.

She licked her lips, blinking rapidly, letting the tears she was fighting earlier come freely. When she finally spoke, it barely came out a whisper, “Why do you have to be so stupid selfless?”

A short laugh escaped him as his thumbs tried pointlessly to wipe the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. “Because someone has to. I have to so you and everyone else can be selfish.”

“Do you understand?” He moved to lay his forehead against hers with a sigh, not breaking eye contact with her.

“I do,” she breathed, “but can you do one thing for me?” A desperate hope filling her voice, that he could no doubt detect, since he lifted his head from hers briefly to get a better look at her.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off before he could start, moving her hands down his arms until they rested against his chest. “Can you be selfish tonight? Just tonight… please.”

He swallowed and flicked his eyes over her face, taking in her tear stained face and parted lips, before settling them back on her eyes and replied softly, in that voice that seemed to be reserved just for her, “Yes, I think I can do that.”

Then his lips came crashing down onto hers, drawing her impossibly close, as if by pulling her tight enough against him they could become one.

The arms that had cradled her face moved, one banding around her back while the other moved to hold the back of her head, while hers gripped his shoulders.

She gasped, breaking their contact, but that didn’t stop him. His lips made a trail down her throat and she threw her head back, giving him better access.

Spots clouded her vision as she grabbed his chin, bringing his mouth back to hers. She felt him moving slowly backwards, hands moving down her thighs, and she responded accordingly by lifting them to wrap around his hips while he carried her.

He dropped her delicately onto the bed, never breaking his hold her, except for his mouth, which once again moved down her neck. Only this time he didn’t stop as he kissed his way down her chest, all the way to the exposed skin of her stomach that her crop top revealed.

She ran her fingers through his hair, down his arms, any piece of him that she could touch she did. She took in every scar and every muscle, and locked them into her memory, because she didn’t know when or if she would ever get to be this close to him again.

While part of her feared that knowing him in this way would make it harder to let him go, she knew that she needed this, they needed it. She would take any part of him, no matter how little or how fleeting. He was the one she wanted, no one else would ever be able to take his place. She loved him wholly and unapologetically, and it broke her heart.

He brought himself back up over her, kissing her cheeks, eyes, and forehead before slowly making his way back to her mouth for one more slow, lingering kiss that she hoped he would never break.

When he did break it he laid his forehead against hers, giving them both time catch their breath.

She opened her eyes slowly and was surprised to see his already open, while he stared at her with more love than she ever felt. It seeped into her bones and brought goose bumps to her skin.

“I love you,” he breathed against her skin.

Her heart stalled in her chest, eyes flying to his as she tried to comprehend what she was hearing. What she had been waiting to hear for months. “Oliver…” she started, but he broke her off, tears forming in his eyes.

“I know I have no right to say it now, especially the way I’ve been walking around saying it these past few months, but… you asked me to be selfish. This is me being selfish. I can’t leave without you knowing, I need you to know.”

“I love you, Felicity Smoak.” A smile formed on his face as he looked into her eyes, and the tears that he let flow betrayed the fact that this was not the happy declaration that they had been waiting for, but a goodbye.

His hands moved to cup her face tenderly, “Do you know? Do you know that I love you?” he pleaded.

“I do, and Oliver…” she whispered, “Oliver, I…I love you too.” Her voice broke before she could finish and she succumbed to tears which he silenced by bringing his mouth down onto hers as he moved them down to lay on their sides.

He moved her head to rest beneath his chin and she wrapped her arms securely around his body, refusing to let one inch of herself not be touched by him.

They fell asleep entwined, holding each other as tightly as possible, knowing that in the morning they would have to let go.

When Felicity’s alarm went off at 6:30 am she squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to open them and face what was to come, but the hand moving slowly through her hair and down her back didn’t allow her to escape into fantasy.

She finally raised her eyes and was met with blue ones that held a deep sadness, but resolution, and she knew he was preparing to say goodbye.

“Don’t say goodbye,” she practically begged, hating how weak she sounded but not caring enough to stop it.

“Okay,” he said softly before placing a soft kiss on her forehead, bringing them both into a sitting position.

He held her for a while longer, her head resting against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart and committing it to memory. Just another thing that she refused to forget.

When her alarm sounded again he sighed and pulled away. “I need you to promised me something now. I need you to promise me that you won’t try and find me when I leave.”

She pulled away from his grip slowly, shaking her head, already forming an argument in her head when he took her face in his hands.

“I need you to promise, Felicity. I can only guarantee your safety by going with them, but if you catch their attention by digging I won’t be able to protect you.”

Her heart shattered within her as she spoke her next words, knowing that this was only going to further separate him from her. “Okay, okay. I—I promise. I won’t go looking.”

He visibly relaxed and released his hold her face, moving to squeeze her hand before he stood up. “I need to go now,” he said, and she knew the mask was back in place.

Oliver Queen was leaving her, and the Arrow was taking his place.

She kept a grip on his hand until he moved too far away for her to hold on anymore, and her hand fell limply into her lap as she watched him retreat up the stairs, out of the foundry, and out of her life.

She stayed on his bed until she heard her alarm go off for the third and final time. Wiping her eyes, she stood and grabbed her bag to follow the same path up the stairs she had just watched Oliver take.

When she reached the top, her eyes swept the foundry one final time before turning off the lights, closing the door to a room that no longer held the Arrow, and facing a world that no longer held Oliver Queen.

 


	5. Like the Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a prompt I got on tumblr from louemysoul. It's a season 4 prompt with Oliver comforting Felicity after the shooting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically could go in my season 4 drabbles, but seeing as this takes place in the bedroom...

Pain. It was all she felt, piercing through her body.

There was a sharp stabbing through her abdomen before it made its way up her body.

Through her lungs, past her spine before it choked the breath from her.

She knew this pain; she remembered it. How could she forget it when she went to bed each night and succumbed to it again?

No, this wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be.

She twisted her body, trying to fight against the pain threatening to consume her.

She couldn’t let Oliver find her like this. She had to fight for him. He couldn’t lose another person. She wouldn’t let it be herself.

It was too much though.

No, no, no. Oliver, please. Help.

The liquid in her lungs rose, she opened her mouth to call him, but the blood spluttered from her mouth, masking all her words.

This was when she started panicking. Her heart rate rose and noises invaded her senses.

She felt her body being grabbed, pushed and pulled, held down. Small, sharp pains in limbs, she couldn’t make sense of it.

It was too much. She just wanted it to stop.

Loud, persistent beeping, a frantic voice calling her name, the clashing sound of machine against machine, before a long ‘BEEP’ droned out.

She went slack before she felt a heavy pressure against her chest, lifting her from her laying position.

Oliver’s named pour from her lips in a frantic gasp as she shot up from her sleep and scampered back against the wall, away from the shock that woke her.

Disoriented, she struggled for a minute when she felt something hard grip her arms, holding her in place, her dream still clinging to her mind as her heart beat wildly, still alert against the aforementioned danger.

“Felicity! Felicity! Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Oliver’s urgent voice finally broke through her fear as her eyes darted around, taking in the room; sheets coiled around her body from her trashing, the pale glow from the lamp beside their bed, and finally Oliver’s face, which was currently pinched with worry and anxiety.

His eyes searched hers and He moved his hands up to cradle her face as he repeated, “it’s okay, you’re okay,” until her body finally relaxed in his hold.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, moving her hands along Oliver’s arms to grip his wrists to gather the strength to talk before finally responding to his imploring eyes.

But she could only stutter out a few words before her body started shaking. “I.. Oliver, I was… I.“

The adrenaline that had been coursing through her body was finally leaving, and all that was left were the remnants of her nightmare.

That wasn’t so much a nightmare as a memory, a memory that she couldn’t seem to shake, even after two weeks of being home.

She huffed a groan of frustration at her betraying body as she tried to talk again, but nothing came out.

Oliver’s hands tightened on her face. “I know,” he said softly, his fingers now stroking her cheek.

“Just take a deep breath; breathe with me. Good.” He murmured as he shifted their bodies so that he was now against the headboard and she had her back to his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around her and they breathed together.

He hummed softly against her head and she gave herself over to him, savoring the strong feeling of him behind her, anchoring her to reality.

Slowly her shaking abated, and his hands loosened around her, now roaming across her body. Skimming up and down her arms, across her stomach, before finding the wound on her stomach, drawing random patterns around the bandages still keeping it clean.

She flinched slightly, and felt his fingers slow before she too felt comfortable with that.

They stayed like that for over an hour before he shifted, moving his lips to the top of her head, whisper, “Better?”

She took a few more breaths, until she knew she had full control of her voice, “Yes.”

She turned in his arms, moving so that she could look at him, sitting sideways against his lap. “Thank you,” she said with every ounce of gratitude she had in her, “I don’t know where that came from, I’m sor–.”

His finger came down on her lips, preventing her from finishing.

“Don’t even think about apologizing, Felicity. I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to apologize for what you’re feeling or what you’re going through. Just know, that I will always be here for you, in whatever way you need me while you are.”

He was looking at her in the way he always did, letting her know with everything inside him how much he loved her.

She felt tears sting the back of her eyes, and all she could do was push her face into his chest and mumble, “I love you.”

“I know,” he replied in a deep voice and she couldn’t stop the giggle that erupted from her chest as she swatted him.

“Don’t you Han Solo me. That is not fair.”

“Sorry, sorry!” He laughed, holding his hands up in defeat against her persistent hands. “I couldn’t help it.”

She settled herself back against his chest, tucking her head under his chin with a smile still on her face.

After a few beats of silence he whispered, “Do you think you’ll be able to go back to sleep tonight?”

She glanced at the clock, 4:30 flashing on the screen before her. “No, I don’t think so,” she replied, shaking her head slightly.

“Okay. Hey, we can watch the sunrise from here,” He suggested eagerly. “That will be nice, won’t it?”

“Yeah,” she sighed contently. “I think it will be too.”

The sun rose as they held each other, the rays sending a glow throughout the room, signaling the start of a new day, a lighter day.

“I do love you.” Oliver stated matter of factly after a long silence.

She replied with a small smile on her face as the sun peaked in the sky, “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: oliver watching felicity sleep after a bad day at work


End file.
